Using Scaffolds to Make Students’ Initial Ideas Public

Jan 31, 2024

This video provides tips for eliciting students’ initial ideas, here in the context of fifth-graders thinking about why a flashlight stops working if left on. Listen for how the teacher revises the guiding question, supports talk, and uses model scaffolds for elicitation and later planning.

Video Transcript

Learn More

Equity

Several tips here enhance access for students, such as grounding the unit in a shared observational task (rather than assuming students have had particular kinds of experiences) and scaffolding students’ modeling. Note also how the teacher makes flexible use of a unit plan and devises next steps in response to students’ ideas.

Research

For more on designing a model scaffold to elicit students’ initial ideas, read: Fowler, K., Windschitl, M., & Auning, C. (2020). A layered approach to scientific models: Creating scaffolds that allow all students to show more of what they know. The Science Teacher, 88(1), 24-36.

Related Posts

A teacher’s journey to science

A teacher’s journey to science

Listen to Debbie Diaz describe her journey toward science, from being a student shut out from science, to a teacher who believed in her students, and now to becoming a science curriculum specialist for Seattle Public Schools.

read more

This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1907471 and #1315995